Story opens with 19 year old Matthew finally returning to the remote Kimberley town he left when he was about 13. He hopes to catch up with Frances, an aboriginal girl he grew up with and fell in love with and recapture the friendship they once had. But Matthew's view of the Kimberley through the rose-coloured glasses of childhood is soon shattered - Frances is pregnant to a married man, a lot of the places he visited as a child are spoilt by rubbish or restrictions and employment is very hard to come by. Things are further complicated when Matthew, discovering Frances' pregnancy, goes wandering through the town late at night; drowning his sorrows with a recently divorced man from Perth called Jeff. Their drinking takes them to a run-down jetty and while sitting there talking about their problems, Jeff decides to go for a swim. Before Matthew can warn him of the dangers of crocodiles, there is a huge splash, a scream and then Jeff has disappeared into the dark tidal waters. Will Matthew find him or will he be accused of murderering his new friend? And what of Frances and the new baby - will Matthew be able to be a "father" in the aboriginal community despite the fact that he is white? A different, sometimes confronting look at outback Australian towns and the differences between the aboriginal and white cultures of Australia.
p.43 - 49 Matthew goes for an interview as a station hand and discovers he is hired on the spot. Unfortunately, he has helped the owner Wainwright collect a car from the mechanics in town, and he is now stranded kilometres away with no gear so he decides to take the car he has just collected back to town, hoping no-one will think he is stealing it.